Apparatus for holding dental or medical instruments

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is provided for holding dental or medical instruments. In connection with a dental or medical unit, there is provided an arm system including at least one displaceable horizontal arm from which depends a supporting rod at the bottom of which there is provided a fan-shaped tray. A hose extends from an instrument supported on the tray and in its position of rest, extends upwardly through the supporting rod and through the aforenoted arms, back to the unit from which it derives its power or whatever other medium is to be employed in connection with the instrument. The supporting rod is provided with a cut out portion generally aligned with the tray and enabling the hose connecting the instrument to the unit to be pulled outwardly to its fullest extent so that the instrument can be employed, such as in connection with a patient or the like. The aforesaid structure is particularly useful in connection with dental equipment, where a hand drill or like instrument connected to a hose is supported on the tray and can be removed therefrom for use in the mouth of a dental patient.

United States Patent [1 Kate APPARATUS FOR HOLDING DENTAL OR MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS [75] Inventor: Motohiko Kato, Omiya, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Yoshida Seisakusho, Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Sept. 5, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 286,442

[52] U.S. Cl. 32/22 [51] Int. Cl. A61c 19/02 [58] Field of Search 32/22; 4/264 [5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,530,513 9/1970 Maurer et al. 32/22 Primary Examiner-Robert Peshock Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus is provided for holding dental or medi- [451 Apr. 23, 1974 cal instruments. In connection with a dental or medical unit, there is provided an arm system including at least one displaceable horizontal arm from which depends a supporting rod at the bottom of which there is provided a fan-shaped tray. A hose extends from an instrument supported on the tray and in its position of rest, extends upwardly through the supporting rod and through the aforenoted arms, back to the unit from which it derives its power or whatever other medium is to be employed in connection with the instrument. The supporting rod is provided with a cut out portion generally aligned with the tray and enabling the hose connecting the instrument to the unit to be pulled outwardly to its fullest extent so that the instrument can be employed, such as in connection with a patient or the like. The aforesaid structure is: particularly useful in connection with dental equipment, where a hand drill or like instrument connected to a hose is supported on the tray and can be removed therefrom for use in the mouth of a dental patient.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR HOLDING DENTAL OR MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for holding a dental or medical instrument which is to be attached to a dental unit, a dental medical chair, the ceiling ofa medical room or the like.

BACKGROUND In general, a dental or medical instrument such as a handpiece used for grinding teeth or a syringe used for projecting air, rinsing water. or medical liquid against a tooth portion to be treated is connected at its rear end with a flexible hose which, for instance, contains a tube for supplying compressed air, rinsing water or medical liquid, or perhaps an electric wire for supplying electric power to a miniature electric motor provided in the handpiece. Such a medical instrument is usually provided in such a manner that the hose hangs down along the side of a dental or medical table, which is provided on a dental unit, through the use of an arm in order to be movable up and down and rotatable. Alternatively, it can be provided on the side of the back rest of a medical chair or it can be held on a medical table through the use of a hose automatic winding apparatus provided in the table.

In the first described arrangement whereby the medical instrument is held with the hose thereof hanging down, the holding mechanism is rather simple. However, there is a defect in that the hose constitutes a great obstacle to dental or medical treatment. In the later described arrangement, the hose is contained in or on the medical table by being wound on a automatic winding apparatus. In such arrangement, there is a defeet in that, not only is it complicated in construction as well as costly, but further the medical table containing the winding apparatus has to have a large volume and is susceptible of being readily put out of order. Additionally, a force for pulling back the hose is always exerted on the hand holding the medical instrument and causes the user to tire rapidly.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to avoid the above-mentioned defects.

Another object of this invention is to provide for facilitating the handling of medical instruments.

Still another object of the invention is to provide that medical instruments can be moved freely around in a patients mouth while providing simultaneously for extreme convenience in the work to be accomplished.

Another object of the invention is to provide that patients can be allowed to easily get on and off medical chairs.

In achieving the above and other objects of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for holding a dental or medical instrument. This apparatus comprises an operating unit including a horizontal arm and a generally vertical supporting rod having a lower end and rotatably supported by said horizontal arm. Further provided is a horizontally extending tray on the aforesaid lower end of the supporting rod. The supporting rod is provided with an opening at least at one side surface thereof corresponding with the tray side. A hose extends along the horizontal arm and hangs down along the supporting rod. An instrument is attached to the hose and by the hose, to the operating unit. By such means, the instrument which is supported on the tray may be removed from the tray and the hose displaced outwardly of the support rod to an extent limited by the size of the opening.

According to a feature of the invention, there is provided a fixing member in the supporting rod for fixing the hose therein.

According to a further feature of the invention, a bent arm may be employed connecting the horizontal arm and the supporting rod.

According to another aspect of the invention, the horizontal arm may be comprised of a parallel link mechanism. The supporting rod according to a feature of the invention may be constituted by a pipe.

According to another aspect of the invention, the supporting rod may be composed of a pipe and the tray will be horizontally disposed and integrally connected to the lower end thereof, therebeing furthermore provided a connecting portion between the tray and rod and being advantageously curved rearwardly, with respect to the tray.

According to still a furtheraspect of the invention, a base may be provided on the tray for holding at least one and possibly a plurality of instruments.

According to still another feature of the invention, the fixing member may be a disc including at least one peripheral receptacle for holding the hose associated therewith.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING Embodiments of the invention will next be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dental unit having a form in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an arm thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line DETAILED DESCRIPTION The embodiments of the invention illustrate cases where the invention is applied to dental units.

A conventional dental unit A of any desired form is provided on its top portion with a supporting pole 1 extending upwardly. From the upper end of this pole 1,

a first arm 2, one end of which is rotatably connected to pole 1, extends horizontally. A second arm 3 similarly extending horizontally is rotatably connected to the other end of the first arm 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, this second arm 3 is composed of a parallel link mechanism comprising members 4, 5, 6 and 7. The member 4 has at its upper portion a shaft portion 8 rotatably supported by the other end of the first arm 2. The member 5 has, at its lower portion, a bearing member 10 for rotatably receiving a holding member 9 which will be further mentioned below. These two members 4 and 5 are interconnected through the two upper and lower members 7 and 6. The

connecting points a, b, c and d constitute the four points of a parallelogram.

The member 6 has a piece 1 1 slidable along the longitudinal axis thereof. A spring 12 for balance is interposed between the piece 11 and the connecting point a. The piece 11 and the member 4 are interconnected through an obliquely extending torsion bar 13. If it is now assumed that, in FIG. 2, each of the members 6 and 7 is inclined by an angle a and thereby the effective length of the spring 12 is shortened by a distance x, the following formula, with respect to the rotating moment at the point a, is established from the balancing condition:

lwcosa=ykxcos6 wherein Z is the length of each of members 6 and 7, y is the length of a perpendicular line extending from the point a to the line e f, w is a load applied to the member 5, k is a spring coefficient of the spring 12, and is the angle afe.

Accordingly, from the above formula k x lw cos a/y cos 6 is obtained. If the value of the spring coefficient k satisfying the above formula is determined, the second arm 3 is alway maintained in a balanced condition.

The second arm 3 of this construction is well known and has been widely used as a means for moving up and down a medical table, an astral lamp, an X-ray applying device or the like. On the front end of the second arm 3, a holding member 9 is rotatably supported. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the holding member 9 is so formed that a supporting rod 14 composed of a pipe is provided at its lower end with a fan-shaped tray 15 in segmental form integrally formed therewith and extending perpendicular thereto. The connecting corner portion between the tray 15 and the supporting rod 14 has a concave portion 16 curved rearwardly. The supporting rod 14 is formed with an open part by a cutout portion 17 extending over at least the lower half portion of the front surface thereof on the tray 15 side. The holding member 9 thus formed is rotatably supported at its upper end by the bearing portion 10 of the second arm 3 through a thrust bearing 18. A wave-like base 19 on which medical instruments are separately placed is provided on the upper surface of the tray 15.

The dental medical instruments 21 such as an electricmotor type handpiece, an air turbine type handpiece, a syringe and the like have at their rear ends respective hose 20. Each rear end of the hoses is connected to a supply source through a connecting socket within the dental unit A. The same passes through the interiors of the supporting pole 1, the first arm 2 and the second arm 3, and further hangs down into the supporting rod 14 of the holding member 9 after passing through the center of the thrust bearing 18. Each hose 20 thus hangs down in the supporting rod 14 and is fixed in stationary condition by a fixing member 22 mounted in the upper half of the supporting rod 14. The medical or dental instrument connected to the front end of each hose 20 is placed horizontally on the upper surface of the tray l5.

As shown in FIG. 5, the foregoing fixing-member 22 comprises a disc-shaped member. Several mounting receptacles 23, each being in the form of a partial circle slightly smaller in diameter than the outer diameter of the hose 20, are provided at the periphery portions thereof. Each hose 20 is pushed into and supported by the mounting portion 23.

Upon use, starting with the condition that the hose 20 is contained in the holding member 9 and bent into an L-shape as shown by solid lines in FIG. 4, the hose 20 can be extended to the position shown in chain-dotted lines in FIG. 4 simply by holding the medical or dental instrument 21. Thus, the treatment with the instrument can be carried out within the range of the length L measured from the upper end portion of the cutout portion 17.

FIG. 6 illustrating another example, shows the case where the portion between a member 24 rotatably supported on the front end of the second arm 3 and the tray 15 is formed into an air space and these members 24, 15 are interconnected by two supporting rods 25 and 25'. FIG. 7 shows the case where the upper half of the pipe-shaped supporting rod 14 constituting the holding member 9 is mostly omitted and the upper end thereof is connected to a bent arm 26 rotatably supported on the front end of the second arm 3.

As a result of the foregoingconstruction, this invention provides various advantages. Since the holding mechanism for the medical instrument in this invention is so constructed that the hose hanging down is contained in the form of two perpendicularly disposed sides and the medical instrument is laid on a tray, it is very simple in construction and economical for manufacturing. Further, the hose does not constitute any obstacle. Since the instrument is placed on the tray, grasping, pulling out of or returning of the instrument to the tray is very convenient.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the length of the hose contained within the range of the cutout portion of the sup porting rod is to be denoted as L, and the length including the instrument and a portion of the hose laid on the upper surface of the tray is denoted as L the effective length L necessary for handling the medical instrument is determined by L, L and since L is in proportion to L, (that is, the length of the cutout portion made in the supporting rod) and L (that is, the size of the tray) is constant, the effective length necessary for handling the instrument can be simply changed without enlarging the tray, by electing the length of the cutout portion of the supporting rod. Additionally, the effective length L can be made larger than L L without increasing the length of the cutout portion by the formation of the concave portion 16.

Since the upper end of the supporting rod is rotatably supported on the second arm, the horizontal direction of the medical instrument can be easily adjusted to the direction of the patients mouth. Especially when the bent arm is connected to the upper half portion of the supporting rod, the medical instrument can be placed at any desired position around the patients mouth this offering convenience in treatment. In most cases, the instrument is positioned near the breast of the patient and is moved sidewards so as not to provide an obstacle to the patients getting up after completion of the treatment. In the conventional case where the instrument is provided on a table, it is inconvenient that the table which is fairly heavy in weight must be moved by being rotated after each time the treatment is completed. According to the invention, however, it is only required that the very light-weight holding member be rotated alone or along with the bent arm, so that the foregoing inconvenience can be avoided. Besides, since the second arm can always remain unmoved and be in a constant position regardless of the patients getting up and down, the operation for returning the instrument to its position for treatment can be simply carried out whereas, with conventional apparatus, there is the fear that when the second arm is inclined upwardly or downwardly in relation to the first arm, the hose is moved in its lengthwise direction in proportion to the inclined angle and, due to such movement, the instrument on the tray can be pulled from the tray.

According to this invention, however, the middle portion of the hose is fixedly held at the upper end portion of the supporting rod by means of the fixing member, so that the moving action of the hose is absorbed between the fixing member and the interior of the dental unit. It'thus becomes possible that the instrument is always supported on the tray in its stable and correct condition and there is no fear that the effective length necessary for handling the medical instrument is changed. Since, additionally, there is provided the fixing member, it is also possible that, instead of being contained in the arm, the hose may be led from any desired direction for being hung down along the supporting rod. Thus, the present invention is extremely advantageous in use.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for holding a dental or medical instrument, said apparatus comprising an operating unit including a horizontal arm, a generally vertical supporting rod having a lower end and rotatably supported by said horizontal arm, a horizontally extending tray on said lower end, the supporting rod being provided with a vertically elongated opening at least at one side surface thereof facing the tray, said supporting rod defining a cavity extending therealong which extends to said opening, a hose extending along the horizontal arm, said hose hanging down within said supporting rod in the cavity therein, and an instrument attached to said hose and supportable on the tray whereby said instrument may be removed from said tray and said hose displaced outwardly of said support rod via said opening to an extent limited by the size of said opening.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a fixing member in said supporting rod for fixing the hose therein.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a bent arm between the horizontal arm and the supporting rod.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the horizontal arm comprises a parallel link mechanism.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the supporting rod is composed of a pipe.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the supporting rod is composed of a pipe and the tray is horizontally and integrally connected to the lower end thereof, said supporting rod constituting a connecting portion between the tray and rod and being curved rearwardly with respect to said tray.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a base for holding at least one instrument on the tray.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said fixing member is a disc including at least one peripheral receptacle for holding said hose.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising at least one further instrument and hose in the same relationship as the first said instrument and hose.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tray is fan-shaped. 

1. An apparatus for holding a dental or medical instrument, said apparatus comprising an operating unit including a horizontal arm, a generally vertical supporting rod having a lower end and rotatably supported by said horizontal arm, a horizontally extending tray on said lower end, the supporting rod being provided with a vertically elongated opening at least at one side surface thereof facing the tray, said supporting rod defining a cavity extending therealong which extends to said opening, a hose extending along the horizontal arm, said hose hanging down within said supporting rod in the cavity therein, and an instrument attached to said hose and supportable on the tray whereby said instrument may be removed from said tray and said hose displaced outwardly of said support rod via said opening to an extent limited by the size of said opening.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a fixing member in said supporting rod for fixing the hose therein.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a bent arm between the horizontal arm and the supporting rod.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the horizontal arm comprises a parallel link mechanism.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the supporting rod is composed of a pipe.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the supporting rod is composed of a pipe and the tray is horizontally and integrally connected to the lower end thereof, said supporting rod constituting a connecting portion between the tray and rod and being curved rearwardly with respect to said tray.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising a base for holding at least one instrument on the tray.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said fixing member is a disc including at least one peripheral receptacle for holding said hose.
 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 comprising at least one further instrument and hose in the same relationship as the first said instrument and hose.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tray is fan-shaped. 